Literally a concert hall, where naturally musical concerts, poem readings, prize giving ceremonies and ceremonies for the visitors to the city of Ephesus were performed at. In the meantime, this structure is named as "Bouleterion", which means a state building in which high state officials met to discuss state affairs; it was not a decision point though.
In this structure you can see the difference between the Hellenistic and Roman architectural designs used on such buildings. (This information is also valid for the Grand Theater of Ephesus.) During the Hellenistic Period, the large area where people sat down and watched the shows was called auditorium or cavea or theatron, where the word 'theater' comes from, was leaning on the slope of the hill behind it. The central cavity, which was called 'orchestra', was more than a semi-circle. But when Romans took over, especially one of the most effective earthquakes happened in the year of 17 A.D. that destroyed the city of Ephesus totally, the Romans could not do too much to the auditoriums because they were the ones which saw least damage as result of earthquakes. They did minor repairs but added lion paws to both sides of the steps leading the way to the upper level of the theatron and added staging area to the staging building to form the orchestra, more or less, into a semi-circle. In other words, during the Hellenistic Period, the performances took place at the orchestra but in the Roman Perion the performances took place on the Staging Area which was called Proscenium.
The Staging Building had various rooms for the performers to change their costumes and to keep the material belonging to the building in those rooms as depots or sorage rooms.
To maintain acoustic in the structure, there are two theories:
1) The staging Building was as high as the top seat of the cavea;
2) According to the finding of ash of burned wood in the orchestra gave the idea to the archaeologists that this structure had a wooden roof. In other words, this was an indoor theater-looking structure.
There were two main entry ways for the public on each side which lead the ways up to two calleries for those people to be able to walk up to the second level of the auditorium.
The seating capasity of the odeon is thought to have been in between of 1400 and 2200 people depending on the ideas of the archaelogists how they measured the bottoms of the people. This is, more or less, why you will see conflicting figures in the books as far as the capacities of the auditoriums.
When you face the auditorium, you will notice the lower part of the cavea is original (the part covered with thich marble slabs) but upper portion and the second level is the restoration of about 30 years ago and the small part on the above left with the gallery (called 'vomitorium') is the restoration of 9 years ago. At this point, you can go all the way to the top next to this newly restored gallery and enjoy and photograph the view to the lower section of the city and upper-gate area.
In front of the Odeon, there is a long structure with a row columns on each side. Although the sign says it is 'Basilica', it can not be a basilica because of the reasons that we do not see any aile, apsis or narthex. For this reason, we prefer to call it 'Double Colonnade' which generally surrounded the agoras. Please click here to read about this structure.
In this structure you can see the difference between the Hellenistic and Roman architectural designs used on such buildings. (This information is also valid for the Grand Theater of Ephesus.) During the Hellenistic Period, the large area where people sat down and watched the shows was called auditorium or cavea or theatron, where the word 'theater' comes from, was leaning on the slope of the hill behind it. The central cavity, which was called 'orchestra', was more than a semi-circle. But when Romans took over, especially one of the most effective earthquakes happened in the year of 17 A.D. that destroyed the city of Ephesus totally, the Romans could not do too much to the auditoriums because they were the ones which saw least damage as result of earthquakes. They did minor repairs but added lion paws to both sides of the steps leading the way to the upper level of the theatron and added staging area to the staging building to form the orchestra, more or less, into a semi-circle. In other words, during the Hellenistic Period, the performances took place at the orchestra but in the Roman Perion the performances took place on the Staging Area which was called Proscenium.
The Staging Building had various rooms for the performers to change their costumes and to keep the material belonging to the building in those rooms as depots or sorage rooms.
To maintain acoustic in the structure, there are two theories:
1) The staging Building was as high as the top seat of the cavea;
2) According to the finding of ash of burned wood in the orchestra gave the idea to the archaeologists that this structure had a wooden roof. In other words, this was an indoor theater-looking structure.
There were two main entry ways for the public on each side which lead the ways up to two calleries for those people to be able to walk up to the second level of the auditorium.
The seating capasity of the odeon is thought to have been in between of 1400 and 2200 people depending on the ideas of the archaelogists how they measured the bottoms of the people. This is, more or less, why you will see conflicting figures in the books as far as the capacities of the auditoriums.
When you face the auditorium, you will notice the lower part of the cavea is original (the part covered with thich marble slabs) but upper portion and the second level is the restoration of about 30 years ago and the small part on the above left with the gallery (called 'vomitorium') is the restoration of 9 years ago. At this point, you can go all the way to the top next to this newly restored gallery and enjoy and photograph the view to the lower section of the city and upper-gate area.
In front of the Odeon, there is a long structure with a row columns on each side. Although the sign says it is 'Basilica', it can not be a basilica because of the reasons that we do not see any aile, apsis or narthex. For this reason, we prefer to call it 'Double Colonnade' which generally surrounded the agoras. Please click here to read about this structure.
: 21 Sep 2006/14:30 GMT |
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